Vital processes of the human body can only proceed at a temperature at or very near that of the blood, which in health is 98 Fahrenheit.

If the temperature is lowered below this point or­ganic processes become slower and slower until at the freezing point of water they practically cease. If foods are frozen certain changes occur. These are for the most part mechanical changes and quite harmless. With a few articles of food, as potatoes or the yolks of egg, freezing causes chemical changes which are undesirable. Save for these few exceptions, cooled foods when re-warmed are exactly as they were be­fore.

If foods be heated above the life temperature vital processes again slacken; let this heating be continued till a temperature from 150 to 170 Fahrenheit is reached, and not only are all life processes stopped but the proteids or protoplasm coagulate and profound and permanent chemical changes occur. As the tempera­ture continues to rise, still other changes occur until at the temperature of 300 only a charred fragment de­void of nutriment remains.

Between these points of 32 and 150 Fahrenheit no chemical changes caused by temperature occur, but, as we have above mentioned, it is at 98 that the vital processes act at their greatest efficiency.

It therefore follows that foods may have been sub­jected to any temperatures within the range given if they are brought to the body temperature before diges­tion begins. Thus, bringing the temperature of foods to the body temperature is one of the duties and pleas­ures of the mouth in eating and drinking.

Food or drink when there is food in the stomach must not be taken at such temperatures and in such quantities as to materially change the temperature of the stomach, and in the case of starchy foods the same rule should apply to the mouth, for the most important step in starch digestion occurs in the mouth.

A range of temperature from 40 degrees below to 20 degrees above body temperature is sufficient to give our temperature taste sense ample play for action and, if food is taken slowly, is perfectly consistent with correct principles of nutrition. Ices, if free from starch and if eaten slowly, are legitimate food articles. Hot breads and hot puddings on the other hand are objec­tionable. Soups, milk, nuts, etc., may be taken warm, and if made enjoyable are to be commended.

The artful use of warmed and cooled foods will en­able many to make the change from a cooked to an un­cooked bill-of-fare who without this artifice might fall by the wayside and return to the steaming viands of conventionality.

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